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Collectively, hashtags make a classification system that group tweets together. Twitter users can click on a hashtag, or type it in the search box, and all tweets including the hashtag will show up.

Twitter accounts provide an easy way to connect with readers and other authors. So, how do hashtags work in the publishing world? We’ll look at some examples, and then I’ll offer a list of some hashtags that may be useful to authors.

Sometimes, especially during conferences, people will add the conference hashtag to their tweets. Others attending, or those who aren’t but want to keep up with what’s happening, can simply do a search on the conference hashtag and see all related tweets.

For instance, attendees to ThrillerFest, the annual conference of International Thriller Writers, may use the #thrillerfest hashtag. Since this year’s ThrillerFest was ThrillerFest XI, they may use #thrillerfestxi to discuss this year’s conference. Next year will be ThrillerFest XII, so they may use #thrillerfestxii next year, and so on (note capitalization doesn’t really matter on Twitter with hashtags).

Another use involves genre categorization, so those looking for titles in your genre can find related posts. Thus, authors may use #romance, #sciencefiction, etc.

Groups of authors may share a common hashtag. Rave Review Book Club members use the hashtag #RRBC. Authors published by Amazon’s digital imprint, Kindle Press, use the #kpauthors hashtag.

Through the use of third parties, Twitter accounts can be set up to automatically retweet messages with specific hashtags. Other times, some people voluntarily retweet items with certain hashtags. Thus we see hashtags like #IARTG (Indie Author Retweet Group) and #ASMSG (Author Social Media Support Group).

Are some hashtags better at reaching your intended audience than others? To help answer that question, you can look at sites like RiteTag which give real time stats on different hashtags and help you decide whether or not one is worth using in your tweet. For instance, RiteTag’s stats on #BYNR (Be Your Next Read) consistently show it’s a good one to have your tweet seen over time (as opposed to other hashtags which may be better for being seen immediately).

You can pay for a tweet to be promoted. I’ve recommended here that you do this at least once because when you are a paying customer, Twitter will let you see stats on every tweet you put out. That way you can see how many people clicked on a link you tweeted, how many people clicked on a hashtag in your post, etc.

You don’t necessarily have to have a huge following to make an impact on Twitter. It’s true that sending out a single tweet can be akin to spitting in the ocean, but there are ways to make your tweets stand out, and hashtags are one of those ways.

Don’t expect the world to beat a path to your book just because you’ve tweeted about it. But, do expect some people to browse the hashtags you include, and maybe see your tweet.

Below I’ve included a list of popular hashtags used by authors on Twitter. This is not an all inclusive list, but it does have many of my favorites. If you have one that’s not on here, feel free to email me.